KABUL (SW) – President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said 80 percent of pathways for flood water across the country are usurped and turned into residential areas.
During a trip to the flood-affected Parwan province, President Ghani termed this situation unacceptable, and instructed the local administration to identify and reopen these pathways here. Flanked by a number of top officials, President Ghani went to Parwan province to express his condolences to the families of the victims of the recent floods.
He also ordered the Ministry of Urban Development and Lands to build a new master plan for the Charikar city. Ghani said the government would assess the damage caused by the floods in a bid to expedite the relief and rehabilitation operations.
Speaking on the occasion, Amrullah Saleh, the first vice president, said that although the recent floods had affected residents of more than ten provinces, Parwan province had suffered the most. Saleh added that those who turned the flood pathways into residential areas had made a historic mistake and played a role in creating the catastrophe caused by the recent floods.
Fazluddin Ayar, the governor of Parwan, said that 157 people had died, 128 had been injured and five were still missing as a result of the floods in the province.
The floods destroyed 406 homes and partially damaged 566 other.
ENDS
